Regulation rules. Europe’s Commission and DOT on oneworld and US attack on ancillaries

In both Europe and the US, regulators and governments are making the news. In Europe, the European Commission gave the go-ahead to the merger between British Airways and Iberia, as well as sanctioning tighter cooperation amongst the oneworld alliance members. This was quickly followed by the US Department of Transportation's (DOT) grant of oneworld's ATI request, also involving American Airlines. Meanwhile also in the US, legislators addressed, with apparent glee, the prospect of regulating ancillary charges. These are the latest developments in ongoing processes of oversight whose validity many question. Progressively (or regressively) and obsessively, regulations are seeping into almost every crack opened up by deregulation over recent decades.